-- Shares Facebook Twitter Reddit Email Late in Season 2 of “ Pachinko ” waits a frame that's as flawless as it is simple, in that it holds two people. By then we've watched their yearning for each other sigh and strain through several episodes leading up to that perfect picture capturing them as they finally face what they know to be true and yet, cannot be. The pair stands inches apart but the lighting, airy atmosphere and the weight of their suppressed affection turn that length into miles of impossibility.
Such bubbles of longing buoy most love stories, although they're employed as sparing oases between expositional expanses. Soo Hugh’s adaptation of Min Jin Lee's exquisite novel refuses to be so stingy, following the lead of her heroine Sunja Baek. Seen as a both 30-something mother in 1945 ( Minha Kim ) and a revered elder in 1989 ( Yuh-jung Youn ), Sunja's wealth is her resolve, and Hugh uses her story as the thread connecting the lives and loves around her like precious beads.
Pachinko (Apple TV+) “Pachinko” is unrivaled on the small screen for its visual richness, the yield of what would otherwise be a modest setting. A story told in parallel timelines, it steps between the past and present seamlessly and without explaining itself. Gently and assuredly we understand the way choices seeded in the past wind their tendrils through the life of generations not yet born.
We can tell where we are in Sunja Baek’s life based on the featured cast, costumes and sets.